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> P.L.O. 3
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PLO 3 — Design and Innovate to Create Equitable and Engaging Information Artifacts
Introduction
Design within librarianship is both a creative and ethical act: each choice we make about how information is structured, presented, or accessed shapes the experiences and opportunities available to users. I have come to understand design as a practice based on equity: collaboration, and cultural responsiveness. Even more, innovative design emerges from attentive listening and intentional disruption of inequitable norms. This PLO highlights the responsibility librarians carry to create artifacts that uplift user voice as well as reflect diverse epistemologies, while actively working to repair historical and structural harm.
3.1 – Apply a repertoire of design principles and practices to plan, develop, and create information artifacts
In my Digital Audio Preservation Practices & History (IST 715) report, I utilized archival and digital design principles, such as fixity, redundancy, and user portability, to map workflows that are technically sound as well as community-legible. These strategies were framed through my work with the Patterson/Rensaa Archive, where format migration and metadata standards (like Dublin Core) were selected with donor voice and long-term use in mind.
In the Genre Study piece (IST 612), I instigated how genre, particularly within music and literature, functions as a technology of racialization. This study models a pedagogical approach, while designing learning centered around interrogation of form and authorship: the work outlines a strategy for building genre-based instruction and collections that resist dominant narratives and decenter whiteness by tracing historical constructs of genre itself.
3.2 – Design artifacts that give users voice in decision-making regarding critical programs, services, and resources for diverse communities
Several of my projects explicitly focus on user voice and agency. My Librarian Interview (IST 717) made with Rebekah Hill (Penn State) positions patron perspectives as authoritative in the development of library service models. I designed the conversation to elevate her lived expertise and facilitate a feedback loop about resource effectiveness, instead of treating the interviewee as a passive beneficiary.
Similarly, the Booktalks piece (IST 612) values children’s interpretations and meaning-making as integral contributions to library service design: book selection and delivery were guided by children’s reactions—not institutional assumptions—and the resulting conversations produced rich dialogic insights which helped to form my approach to outreach and recommendation.
3.3 – Critique existing designs to expose instances of inequity and injustice and move toward mitigation and repair
My Access Effectiveness (IST 616) evaluation examined how poorly designed digital signage, and similarly confusing navigation structures, as well as inflexible hours at a Teen Tech Center resulted in underutilization by the relevant communities. I designed a model that utilized visual storytelling, multilingual instructional graphics, and teen-led content curation. I then brought these inclusive design principles to my Strategic Plan for the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (IST 672), where I proposed youth-led service audits as well as Indigenous language revitalization tools as deliverables concerning equity at their core.
Learning Transfer
The lessons crafted to form PLO 3 have shifted how I conceptualize my own role as a designer of information experiences. I recognize that every artifact, whether a workflow, display, curriculum, website, or descriptive schema, communicates values and shapes belonging. I integrate user voice at every stage of design, ensuring communities guide the creation of the tools intended for their use. I also examine existing systems critically, while instigating inequities that may otherwise be rendered invisible by tradition or convenience. The design principles I carry with me highlight flexibility, transparency, and justice, reminding me that innovation is meaningful when it expands who is seen, who participates, and who benefits in library spaces.
Evidence
IST 612 - Genre Study
- Booktalks: Librarians and Children - Oral History
IST 616 - Access Effectiveness
IST 672 - Strategic Plan (Buffalo Erie County Library)
IST 715 - Digital Audio Preservation Practices & History
IST 717 - Librarian Interview